Balloon breaker

ABSTRACT

A ring twister having lubricated balloon control rings which facilitate handling yarns at substantially higher speeds. The rings may be of porous material for passage of the lubricant therethrough, or they may be nonporous material having ports for passage of the lubricant to the yarn. The rings are generally applicable to spinning frames and any other equipment on which control of a ballooning strand is desired.

United States Patent Andrews [451 Feb. 1,1972

[54] BALLOON BREAKER [72] Inventor: Bernard Andrews, Johnston, R1.

[73] Assignee: Leesona Corporation, Warwick, R1.

[22] Filed: Feb. 11, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 10,528

[52] U.S.Cl ..57/108,57/35,57/120, 57/164 [51] Int. Cl. ..D0lh1/42, D01h7/18, D0lh 13/30 [58] Field ot'Search ..57/35, 58.83, 58.86, 75, 106,57/107,108, l19,120,122,124, 164

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,295,306 l/1967 Rehn..57/58.83 3,159,962 12/1964 Franzen.... 3,222,857 12/1965 Keyser3,458,983 8/1969 Hamel 1,918,644 7/1933 Hofmann.. 2,084,756 6/1937Albrecht 2,867,076 1/1959 Atwood ..57/120 Primary Examiner.1ohn PetrakesAtt0rneyAlbert P. Davis and Burnett W. Norton [5 7] ABSTRACT A ringtwister having lubricated balloon control rings which facilitatehandling yarns at substantially higher speeds. The rings may be ofporous material for passage of the lubricant therethrough, or they maybe nonporous material having ports for passage of the lubricant to theyarn. The rings are generally applicable to spinning frames and anyother equipment on which control of a ballooning strand is desired.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures mama] FEB BERNARD ANDREWS BY ATTORHEYSBALLOON BREAKER This invention relates to strand handling and, moreparticularly, to a ring twister and a balloon control ring.

As used herein the term package means the product of a twisting machine,spinning frame, winder, or the like, wound so that it may be readilymoved from place to place. The term yarn is employed in a general senseto apply to all kinds of strand material, either textile or otherwise.

Indirectly related to the present development are Leesona Corporationpatents, U.S. Pat. No. 3,407,585, granted Oct. 29, I968, and U.S. Pat.No. 3,484,032, granted Dec. 16, 1969.

In a ring twister, such as Model Nos. 512 or 514, manufactured byLeesona Corporation, Warwick, Rhode Island, a core is received on agenerally vertical rotating spindle which is rotated to wind a strand ofyarn onto the core to form a package. The yarn is advanced, insuccession, through a centering eye generally concentric with thespindle axis, through a balloon ring and then a traveler slidable on atraveler ring and rotated about the axis of the spindle by the yarn asit is wound onto the core to form a package. The traveler ring ismounted on a vertically reciprocating ring rail to traverse the windingyarn onto the package. As the yarn is wound onto the package it rotateswith the traveler about the spindle axis and is deflected outwardly bycentrifugal force so that it simulates the appearance of a balloon. Asthe diameter of the winding package increases, the rotational speed ofboth the yarn and the traveler also increase while the tension of theyarn decreases, so that the diameter of the "balloon increases. To limitthis diameter and to prevent the ballooning portion ofthe yarn fromwhipping against separator plates between stations of the twistingmachine, one or more balloon control rings are conventionally providedat each twisting station.

A balloon control ring, more commonly called a balloon ring, isconventionally a round steel rod formed into an annulus with oppositeends overlapping and then extending outwardly to form mounting armswhich are secured to the ring rail above the ring and traveler assembly.Two such balloon rings may be provided at each spindle for winding oflonger packages.

As the spindle speed is increased, in order to increase the productioncapacity, certain yarns are subject to damage through engagement withthe balloon rings when the yarn is wound above a particular speed.Depending on the particular yarn, such damage may be in the form offusing, fibrillating, or loss of finish, for example, as will bediscussed more fully later.

The invention, in brief, is directed to eliminating such yarn damage atincreased winding speed by providing a lubricant between the yarn andthe balloon ring. The yarn engaging surface of the balloon ring islightly lubricated so that only a very small amount of lubricant istransferred to the yarn. It is conceivable that in a practical sense, nolubricant would be transferred to the yarn.

It is a primary object of this invention to provide a new and improvedapparatus and method for handling a strand and, more particularly, forfacilitating higher winding and twisting speeds for yarns.

Another object is provision of new and improved apparatus and method forhandling a ballooning yarn, the apparatus including a balloon controlring having a surface for receiving a yarn and restraining ballooning ofthe yarn, with provision for lubricating the surface independently ofengagement of the yarn with the ring. A related object is provision of aporous ring, the pores providing the passageways, with the lubricantapplied to the porous portion away from the ring surface.

These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparentfrom the following description and the accompanying drawing, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary, schematic, perspective view of a preferredembodiment of a portion ofa ring twister, with parts removed for clearerillustration;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged, fragmentary, schematic, top view ofa portion ofaballoon control ring shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary, sectional view taken generally along the line3-3 in FIG. 2, to a reduced scale;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary sectional view of a portion of FIG.3; and

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary sectional view similar to FIG. 4, and showinganother embodiment ofthe invention.

Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawing, a typical ring twister. such as thepreviously noted Leesona Ring Twisters, Models 512 or 514, includes aframe (not shown) which carries a series of twisting stations 10 (onlyone shown). Each station 10 includes a spindle l2 rotatably mounted inajournal I4 operatively fixed to the frame (not shown) and having awhorl l6 drivingly engaged by a drive belt 18 common to all of thespindles, for rotating the spindle l2 clockwise, as indicated by thearrow 20, during operation of the twister. A core 22, on which a yarnpackage 24 is wound, is received on the spindle 12 for rotationtherewith. As the package 24 is being wound, a strand of yarn 26 passesdownwardly, in the direction of the arrow 28, successively from anoverhead supply (not shown) and through an operatively fixed centeringeye 30, a balloon control ring 32, more commonly called a balloon ring32, and

through a traveler 34 to the package 24. The centering eye 30 ispreferably pivotally mounted on a bracket 36 fixed to the frame (notshown), to swing upwardly from a position (as shown) concentric with thespindle to a position clear of the spindle so that the core 22 may beplaced on and removed from the spindle 12 without obstruction.

The traveler 34 is carried by a traveler ring 38 and therewith providesa traveler and ring assembly 40 which is fixedly secured, as by bolts42, to a ring rail 44 mounted on the frame (not shown) for generallyvertical reciprocating movement, as indicated by the arrow 46,responsive to operation of a builder mechanism (not shown), all as iswell understood in the field to which this invention pertains. Thetraveler and ring assembly 40 may be of the self-lubricating type suchas those manufactured by Merriman Brothers Inc., I00 Industrial ParkRoad, Hingham, Mass, and sold by Leesona Corporation as Part No. 512-266-] 18X. This assembly will be described later.

The balloon ring 32 is part of a balloon ring assembly 48 which ismounted on the ring rail 44 for movement therewith. As illustrated, thismounting includes a bracket 50 partially embracing an upstanding lug 52,integral with a body 50 of the traveler and ring assembly 40, and fixedthereto as by a bolt 54. A generally horizontal flange 56 of the bracket50 receives a body 58 of the balloon ring assembly 48 which is fixedlysecured thereto as by bolts 60.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. l-4, the balloon ring assembly 48may be identical to the traveler ring assembly 40 except that theupstanding mounting lug 52 is preferably eliminated since this lug wouldserve no useful function, and the traveler 34 is eliminated. The balloonring assembly 48 includes the balloon ring 32 which is a member receivedwithin the body 58 which is split, as at 64, and the ring 62 is firmlyclamped in place by a bolt 66 (FIG. 2) and a nut 68 received in a recessin the body 58. The split is machined to close tightly. A lubricantreservoir (FIGS. [-3) has a transparent top 72 and a filler plug 74 andis provided with a spongelike like pad 76 which controls the passage ofthe lubricant through a supply passage 78 (FIGS. 3 and 4), formed in thebody 58, and into a channel 80. This channel 80 (FIG. 4) is formed by arecess 82 in the outer periphery of the ring 32 and an inner face 84 ofthe body 58 which abuts the ring. The ring 32 is preferably sinteredsteel and has a smooth, porous, circumferential inner surface 86 curvedoutwardly, as at 88 (FIG. 4) along the top of the ring, and if desired,the ring may be modified by provision of a similar curved surface (notshown) at the bottom ofthe ring. Lubricant passes through the channel 80and about the ring 32, and through the pores in the sintered ring to thesurface 86 of the ring. The portions of the ring 32 not engaged by theyarn 26, other than the recess 82, are preferably sealed, in a knownmanner, to prevent passage of the lubricant therethrough. Thus, as theyarn passes through the balloon ring 32 its surface engages thelubricated surface 86 of the ring thus reducing friction between thesesurfaces and also reducing heating of the yarn.

The lubricant may be any suitable nonloaded oil (an oil devoid of lards,fats, or other matter which would clog the pores of the ring), and asuitable oil is No. 1,209 Coning Oil, sold by New York and New JerseyNonfluid Oil Corporation, 292 Madison Avenue, New York, New York.Alternatively, the ring surface, as 86, may be lubricated by water, butin this event it is preferable that the ring be a sintered bronze orother material which is not subject to rust or corrosion by the water.Similarly, any other suitable lubricant may be used in conjunction witha compatible ring.

FIG. 5 shows another embodiment of the balloon ring assembly in whichthe previously described balloon ring 32 has been replaced by anonporous ring 94 having small passageways in the form of tunnels 96communicating with an annular channel 98 containing a wick 100 extendingabout the ring, generally as previously described, and terminating inports opening through a yarn engaging surface 102 of the ring. Rings ofthis general type are known in the trade as Eadie rings, or Herr rings,and the illustrated ring may have any number of equally spaced tunnels96 opening through the surface 102, for example four such tunnels eachof about one thirty-second inch diameter.

In the following examples the yarns were run on Leesona Corporation ringtwisters as previously noted.

EXAMPLE I A 2.25's/2-ply staple polyester carpet yarn when run at aspindle speed of 3,800 r.p.m. with two conventional steel rod balloonrings produced fused spots in the yarn. With oillubricated balloon ringsas described with reference to FIGS. 1-4, satisfactory yarn devoid offused spots was produced at a spindle speed of5,200 r.p.m.

EXAMPLE I] A 1,100-denier continuous filament Dacron when run at aspindle speed of 5,200 r.p.m. with a conventional balloon ring producedbroken filaments due to hard twist. When run at the same speed with'anoil lubricated balloon ring as described with reference to FIGS. 1-4, nobroken filaments resulted.

EXAMPLE 111 Two tests of 1,000-denier and 1,400-denier texture Dupontnylon produced broken filaments when run at a spindle speed of 5,200r.p.m. with a conventional balloon ring. When run with an oil-lubricatedballoon ring described with reference to FIGS. 14, no broken filamentswere found at a spindle speed of 6,074 r.p.m.

EXAMPLE IV Nonfuming Dupont nylon deposited yarn spin finish on aconventional balloon ring at spindle speeds above 8,000 r.p.m. With thelubricated balloon ring described with reference to FIGS. 1-4, no suchdeposits were noted at 12,000 r.p.m.

While this invention has been described with reference to particularembodiments in a particular environment. various changes may be apparentto one skilled in the art and the invention is therefore not to belimited to such embodiments or environment except as set forth in theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for controlling a ballooning portion ofa strand of yarn,comprising a balloon control ring having a generally circumferentialsurface for engaging and controlling ballooning of the ballooningportion of the strand, said ring including means for lubricatingsubstantially the entire said surface of the ring engaged by the strandsubstantially independently of engagement of the strand with the ring,the lubricating means including a substantially continuous, porous ringbody, and said surface being a surface of said ring body, and meansmounting said balloon control ring with said surface positioned forengaging and controlling said ballooning portion of the strand.

2. Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the lubricating agenerally annular chamber and extends substantially entirely about saidportion.

5. A method of controlling a ballooning portion of a strand of yarn bymeans of a balloon control ring having a substantially continuous porousring body with a generally circumferential surface for controllingballooning of the strand, the method comprising the steps of engagingthe ballooning portion of the strand with the surface, and passinglubricant through the pores of said body and onto substantially theentire said surface for lubricating said surface substantiallyindependently of engagement of the strand with the surface.

6. A method as set forth in claim 5 in which the ring has a portionremote from said surface, and in which the step of passing a lubricantthrough the ring includes passing the lubricant through said portion andthe pores of the ring, and then through said surface.

1. Apparatus for controlling a ballooning portion of a strand of yarn,comprising a balloon control ring having a generally circumferentialsurface for engaging and controlling ballooning of the ballooningportion of the strand, said ring including means for lubricatingsubstantially the entire said surface of the ring engaged by the strandsubstantially independently of engagement of the strand with the ring,the lubricating means including a substantially continuous, porous ringbody, and said surface being a surface of said ring body, and meansmounting said balloon control ring with said surface positioned forengaging and controlling said ballooning portion of the strand. 2.Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which the lubricating meansincludes means for applying a lubricant to a portion of the ring bodyremote from said surface and the pores of the ring body provide forpassage of lubricant from said portion through the ring body to saidsurface.
 3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 in which the lubricatingmeans includes means defining a chamber about said portion and incommunication therewith for delivering lubricant to said portion. 4.Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 in which said chamber is a generallyannular chamber and extends substantially entirely about said portion.5. A method of controlling a ballooning portion of a strand of yarn bymeans of a balloon control ring having a substantially continuous porousring body with a generally circumferential surface for controllingballooning of the strand, the method comprising the steps of engagingthe ballooning portion of the strand with the surface, and passinglubricant through the pores of said body and onto substantially theentire said surface for lubricating said surface substantiallyindependently of engagement of the strand with the surface.
 6. A methodas set forth in claim 5 in which the ring has a portion remote from saidsurface, and in which the step of passing a lubricant through the ringincludes passing the lubricant through said portion and the pores of thering, and then through said surface.